Every other year, Pinewood’s Performing Arts department travels to New York to inspire students with the performing arts world. This year, three teachers and 25 students reached New York on February 16th, then arrived back in the Bay Area on February 21st. Junior high and high school theatre teacher Doug Eivers was one of the teachers chaperoning the trip.

  Promoting this trip for months, Eivers stressed that “as a theatre/performing arts department, it’s important to us to try to expose our students to as much performing arts as possible, and there is no better place to do that than NYC.”

   The students had a blast: watching eight musicals and plays, ice-skating in Rockefeller Plaza, visiting NBC Studios, the Museum of Natural History, and taking the Top of the Rock tour. In addition, they participated in exclusive classes with Broadway artists such as Hannah Shankman from “Wicked,” Betsy Struxness from “Hamilton,” and Derek Klena from “Anastasia.”

  Freshman Alexandra Roesch explained how watching the Broadway shows “sparked an interest” to pursue her passions. Her favorite moment of the trip was hearing the number “Defying Gravity” in “Wicked.”

  Another student on the trip was freshman Sydney De Lora; her favorite part was being in snowy Times Square. De Lora came back feeling “refreshed” from New York. Justin Stangenes, another attendee, cited his favorite part as the Top of the Rock tour, with a view all the way from Central Park to Manhattan. Stangenes said he became “more and more excited as the trip continued.”

  Doug Eivers has been on the New York trip four times; however, the trip never gets old as he loves “watching the students enjoy the sights and sounds of New York.” He believes being able to talk to artists is inspiring: “By knowing a little bit about their story it can help you find success in your own life, in whatever it is you choose to do.” The New York trip is a “great chance to explore the city and see some great theatre!”

Read this article in The Perennial online